The New York Liberty's hot streak continued on Saturday afternoon with a 90-82 win over the Las Vegas Aces in the first Finals rematch between the teams this season. With the victory, the Liberty extended their winning streak to eight games -- tied for the third-longest in franchise history -- and improved to 12-2.
"I think the thing that's been working for us is just playing together," Jonquel Jones said. "Right now we're missing our point guard (Courtney Vandersloot), but it's next man up and everybody's been doing their best to fill in that gap."
While Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu each had big double-doubles on the day, the main story from the Liberty's win was Jones. The former MVP went off for a career-high 34 points and eight rebounds on 12-of-16 from the field to continue a stellar start to the summer.
We witnessed a MONSTER performance by Jonquel Jones 😳
— WNBA (@WNBA) June 15, 2024
Everything went her way in today's matchup vs the Aces, shooting 12-16 from the field and 4-5 from three. JJ led the @nyliberty to a rematch win stemming from last year's Finals 🔥
STATS: 34 PTS, 8 REB#WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/OGhdcysVIZ
The Aces had no answer for Jones, who got hot from the outside early, then spent the rest of the game punishing the defending champions in the paint. After the Aces had surged ahead to take a six-point lead early in the third quarter, Jones was instrumental in turning the tide back in the Liberty's favor. She either scored or assisted on eight points during the Liberty's 14-0 run to retake control, including an and-one that gave them the lead for good.
"Just trusting my teammates, you know," Jones said. "We came in knowing that we would be able to get a lot of open shots because the Aces congest a lot on defense. I just came in ready to shoot and whatever they gave me, I took it."
Jones got off to a slow start in her first season with the Liberty last summer as she recovered from a foot injury while also adjusting to a new city and new teammates. By the playoffs, though, she was arguably the team's best player, and has picked up right where she left off.
Through 14 games, she's averaging 16.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, while shooting a career-high 58.7% from the field, including 42.6% from downtown. After scoring 20 points just twice last season, she's already hit that mark five times.
This is the Jones that the Liberty were so eager to acquire, and when she's playing at this level they are a totally different team, as they've shown to start the season. With no winning teams on the schedule until July, the Liberty have a chance to extend this winning streak even further and really create some space in the standings.
Jones said the formula to do that is simple: "Watch film, get better, not being comfortable with what we've accomplished, but understanding there's another level that we can take it to."
